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According to a study commissioned by the Royal & Ancient, it shows a growth in 2023 of more than three million new adult golfers compared to the previous year.
Let’s be clear, there are more and more golfers in the world! This is in any case what a study conducted for the Royal and AncientThere are now 42.7 million golfers playing the sport on 9 or 18 holes in R&A affiliated markets, excluding the United States and Mexico.
These figures for the year 2023 indicate precisely a growth of 3.1 million golfers on the courses compared to 2022. This trend began before the start of the Covid pandemic and has continued to accelerate since. Between 2020 and 2022, there were on average 2.5 million new golfers on the courses per year. Proof that golf continues to gain in popularity, with in particular an increase of 44% compared to the 29.6 million players recorded in 2016.
1.1 million more golfers in one year…
The new data is provided by the national federations of the R&A affiliated markets in Asia, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean, Central (excluding Mexico) and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.
The study also shows that 62.3 million adults (excluding the United States and Mexico) consume this sport in one form or another, an increase of 1.1 million since 2022. This estimate takes into account alternative formats such as pitch & putt, indoor simulator golf and the use of the driving range.
Asia well ahead of Europe
We also find that the top five markets for adult golfers playing 9 or 18 holes come first from Japan (11.4 million), South Korea (8.7 million), Canada (6.3 million), England (4.2 million) and Germany (2.4 million).
Among the continents that are most involved in golf and affiliated with the R&A, Asia has 26.2 million adults, with Europe coming in second with 19.7 million adults.
Another interesting figure is that the number of registered adult golfers (members of a golf club within their national federation or affiliated through a direct subscription) increased from 8 million in 2022 to 8.2 million in 2023, representing an overall growth of 10% since 2020. Female golfers increased from 1.5 million in 2020 to 1.6 million in 2023, but the percentage of female golfers using only alternative formats increased from 47% in 2022 to 52% in 2023.
Photo: Warren Little / GETTY IMAGES EUROPE / Getty
